Neither Is Pepsi Israeli Company Nor Did They Change Design to Support Palestine

PepsiCo is an American company, not an Israeli company as claimed by social media users.

Fact-Check: An old and misleading claim about Pepsi changing its design to show support to Palestine is going viral on social media.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Several photos of PepsiCo cans with 'Palestine' written on it is going viral on social media.

• The claim suggests that Pepsi’s new product design shows the company’s declaration of solidarity with Palestine during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

• It also insinuates that this move was taken by the company to 'avoid boycott' by Palestinian supporters.

• Some of the claims also state that Pepsi is an Israeli company.

An archive of this post can be seen here..

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: These image of Pepsi cans with 'Palestine' written on them are not recent, they predate the onset of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

• PepsiCo is also an American company and not an Israeli company as claimed.

• We didn't find any proof stating that the updated design on Pepsi cans was done by the company. However, we found that a packaging company based in Gaza designed the can during a campaign.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the viral image and found an old post on X (formerly Twitter).

• The post was shared on 17 August 2023, which predates the Hamas' attack on Israel on 7 October.

• The caption read that Pepsi Gaza has introduced new product designs 'showcasing Palestinian culture and heritage'.

The post can be viewed here.

• The results also led us to another post on Facebook which showed the making of this design for Pepsi.

• The video was shared on 16 August as a part of a campaign.

• It was shared by 'Dragon Studios', an advertising agency.

• The official website of Dragon Studios also mentions Pepsi as their client.

• We also came across a Palestine-based news publication, Mada News, from 14 August 2023 which stated that Pepsi celebrated its latest campaign last June and July under the slogan “Take the Taste of Pepsi Challenge.”

• It also mentioned that the cans with patterns reflecting authentic Palestinian heritage continues for only three months.

• We checked websites and social media pages of PepsiCo, Modern Group and Pepsi Palestine-West Bank and found no sign of the design which represented Palestine.

The reel can be viewed here.

Is PepsiCo an Israeli company?: No, PepsiCo is an American company.

• PepsiCo was formed in 1965 as an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation with its headquarters in Harrison, New York.

• Ramon Laguarta is the CEO of the company and is a Spanish businessman.

• Modern Group is PepsiCo's beverage manufacturing plant in West Bank area.

Pepsi's statement on Israel and Gaza: Pepsi released an official statement on 27 October.

• The statement showed its support to people of Israel and Gaza.

Pepsi released a statement on 27 October.

We have reached out to PepsiCo, Dragon Studios and Modern Group to learn more about this design. The story would be updated once we receive a reply.

Conclusion: While it is not clear who created the design with the word "Palestine" written on it, the image of the can predates the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel and hence is not an official can released by PepsiCo to "support Palestine".

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